WORLD : Israel Wants U.S. to Forgive Its Debt Along With Egypt’s
Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai said today that if the United States goes ahead with proposals to forgive Egypt’s multibillion-dollar debt, Israel will demand that most of its debt to the Americans also be erased.
Egypt owes the United States $6.7 billion from previous arms sales, and Israel owes $4.6 billion. The two are the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid. Each year, Israel receives $3 billion and Egypt gets $2.3 billion.
“It doesn’t make sense that Egypt gets a waiver and Israel stays out of it,” Modai told Israel radio. “It is ridiculous.”
He said he would raise the subject when he visits Washington in two weeks.
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